House Minority Floor Leader Paul LeVota (D, Independence) pledged to cooperate with Republican leaders, but also warned them not to play political games.

"No more arbitrary partisan rulings from the chair, no more conveniently not seeing a member that's trying to gain recognition, and no more punishing a member by not recognizing them on the floor," LeVota said.

LeVota also said that Democrats will dedicate themselves to holding both the Republican majority and incoming Governor Jay Nixon accountable to work together to find solutions to Missouri's problems.

In the State Senate, new President Pro-tem Charlie Shields (R, St. Joseph) told fellow Senators that they need to create a plan to make Missouri business-friendly, expand health coverage to more people, and build an educated workforce.

"While our current financial situation creates difficult choices, it also creates opportunities...we have the opportunity to use this (financial) crisis to make difficult decisions, but more importantly to focus on a long-term strategy to build the state Missourians want," Shields said.